zebra15

We are planning to move our family back from LA to London this summer !
I could really use recommendations for reliable international shipping companies - and which ones to avoid. We used Pickfords on the way over, but it seems that there are fewer well-established, known brands to choose from in LA. Any positive experiences of LA area international shipping companies would be welcome. Thanks!

Sally Redux

We have used Rainier. They seem to be easy to deal with.

Our stuff has just arrived in the UK apparently, but we'll have to store it for a while, so can't give a definitive recommendation. Others on BE have used them though.

http://www.rainieros.com/

CDNtoUK

Check UPakWeShip. We used them from Canada but they are an American company. Excellent service and prices. We worked with Pete and he was excellent.

Yogibear1961

We have just sent our stuff by upakweship. We have sold almost everything and got a u-box that we got all our books, pictures, photos, CDs, DVDs hubbies tool chests my large collection of Swarovski crystal, some glass Xmas ornaments, bedding, dishes, pots and pans, shoes, curtains, the list goes on. We were very surprised how much we got in. We dry packed first, as everything has to be labelled and then once we were happy with it we unpacked and repacked after lab belling everything. With boxes and loss items total was 72 items. They have picked it up just waiting on the invoice crate was $1200 but we got insurance so about 2% of what goods worth we have about $8500 worth of stuff in that little crate. Everything else we have sold and will buy new when we get back to the uk. After all it's only stuff.

Nyz

The one I always recommend on here Scumachers. We moved in 2011 from LA back to London. Their packers were excellent, think we dealt with Greg Speed, sorry memory's a bit hazy!

windsong

Are you saying it was only $1200 for a U box - plus insurance? How big is the U box?

zebra15

Thank you for all of your advice. You have been very helpful. FWIW for future users, I received the following quotes for a 40' container from LA to London, full service packing & shipping door-to-door:

SDC International Shipping $11,770
ACE Relocation Systems (Atlas) $10,885
Alex Moving & Storage (North American) $10,300
Schumacher Cargo Logistics $9,000

This discussion forum has been very useful for me, and I hope these quotes will help other people in the future to benchmark the quotes they receive.

Yogibear1961

Yes the ubox was $1200 the insurance was $169, the insurance is 2% of what your stuff value in the box. I filled mine to the brim. The box is 56 inches by 39 by 39, comes flat packed and you assemble and pack and then they collect and ship. They say it will be 6-8 weeks, we will see. The only thing I would say is order early send early as we are still waiting for them to take the payment from our account, so was not able to close the American account before leaving the states, which is a bummer, because I have to now call as soon as it clears so I don't pay bank charges.

windsong

It doesn't sound very big but when you map it out on the carpet, times 39 high, it's quite large indeed. You could cram a whole lot of things in that box. Is there any weight limitation (such as if you wanted to put dishes in it)?

Yogibear1961

No weight limit, we had dishes, pans, ornaments, books, CDs, DVDs, bedding, curtains and a very heavy tool box that weighed about 250lbs on its own. It's the case of if it fits it ships.
We taped it out on the floor and did a dry fit, when we got the box we dry fitted again as every thing had to be labeled with the name and number of number, we had boxes and a lot of single items but every thing had to be numbered in total we had 72 items large and small.